The former ADO building on Morgan St. was hardly on everyone’s radar when discussions were held over where a new community center should go. The former liquor store, the second story of the Municipal Building, The Caboose, the dollar store — all were thrown out as possibile future sites of a new center.
However, now that construction is well underway, its evident City leaders are pleased that that’s where Tracy’s future community gathering place will be.
“I’m very happy with it,” Tracy City Administrator Jeff Carpenter said.
Workers had 120 days from the beginning of construction to complete the project, so sans any small details, the center’s doors should open on June 1.
“That’s when the majority of the stuff will be done,” Carpenter said. “Will there be some tweaks? Yes. But on the inside, they’ve done all the taping and mudding and everything. And it’s all been painted twice.”
While still a construction zone, it’s evident that the interior progress that has been made so far shows that the project is on schedule.
“They’re working on getting all the wires pulled over for the computer system, the tele-health, the security system,” Carpenter said, adding that that work should be competed this week, if not already by the time this issue was published.
Also this week, work on the ceiling and the floors could begin. Cabinets also need to be installed, as well as technological equipment like a 96-inch monitor and a 100-inch pull-down screen. With the exception of getting the building plumbed out to the street, all the plumbing has been finished.
Outside, workers began installing durable, gray cement board panels on the exterior walls. The outside will be two-toned.
The Tracy American Legion will also have its own space and its own key to access that area.
The City has not tapped into the $144,113 in restricted funds to date and Carpenter said there is nothing foreseeable in the future that would require dipping into that pot of money. Between grants — including a $500,000 Community Facilities Grant from the Minnesota Department of Education, a $100,000 Charles K. Blandin Foundation grant, a $50,000 grant from Apex Clean Energy, and a $20,000 grant from the Carl and Verna Schmidt Foundation for the kitchen — and fundraising from the Community Center Workforce Group, expenses should be covered.
WORKERS BEGAN INSTALLING CEMENT BOARD PANELS on the new community Center in Tracy this week. Photo / Per Peterson
